10 Best Small Towns in America

10 Best Small Towns in America | Travel News from Fodor's Travel Guides

Inspiring biographies of a few charming towns in the country.  But how do you choose one?

P.S. Does the word wine ring a bell?;-)

Gangnam Style - acoustic and lyrical

You can turn anything into music :)

La Cigara y la Hormiga

Santa:

- "Érase una vez un país en el que vivían una Cigarra y una Hormiga. La hormiga era hacendosa y trabajadora, y la cigarra no; le gustaba cantar y dormir mientras la hormiga hacía sus labores. Pasó el tiempo y la hormiga trabajó y trabajó todo el verano, ahorró cuanto pudo y en invierno la cigarra se moría de frío mientras la hormiga tenia de todo… ¡Que hija de puta la hormiga! La Cigarra llamó a la puerta de la Hormiga, que le dijo: “Cigarrita, cigarrita, si hubieras trabajado como yo, ahora no pasarías hambre ni frío…” ¡¡Y no le abrió la puerta!! ¿Quien ha escrito esto? Porque esto no es así: la hormiga ésta es una hija de la gran puta y una especuladora. Y además, aquí no dice porque unos nacen cigarras y otros hormigas, y tampoco que si naces cigarra estás jodido, y aquí, no lo cuenta…

Los lunes al sol. Fernando León de Aranoa (2002).

Gogol Bordello

Have you ever been to American wedding?

Where is the vodka, where is marinated herring?

Where is the musicians that got the taste?

Where's the supply that's gonna last three days?

Where's the band that like fanfare? Gonna keep it going 24 hour

Instead it's 1 in the morning and DJ's patching up the chords

Everybody's full of cake, staring at the floor

Proper couples start to mumble that it's time to go

People gotta get up early and they gotta go

Ah, people gotta get up early and she's got a boyfriend

And this whole fucking thing is one huge disappointment

And nothing gets these bitches going, not even gypsy kings

Nobody talks about my super theory of super everything

So be Donald Trump or be an anarchist

Make sure that your wedding doesn't end up like this
I understand the cultures of a different kind

But here word celebration just doesn't come to mind

Have you ever been to American wedding?

Where is the vodka, where is marinated herring?

Where is the musicians that got the taste?

Where's the supply that's gonna last three days?

Where's the band that like fanfare? Gonna keep it going 24 hour

Quizas Quizas Quizas

Весна

Checkmate

- What does an Australian say to a Czech?
- Checkmate.

Contemporary Classical

Contemporary classical music came to me through Amelie, in which composer Yann Tiersen provides a moving, yet modern background, perfect for the film.  The music in general is, as many say, not quite as deep and grande as the music of the traditional classical giants.  However, what is so attracting about the new style is precisely the lack of that deepness, the multitude of voices and undertones.  What we long for today is a simple tune.  No less beautiful, but simple.  Maybe it is only an illusion that life used to be more simple in the old days, in the black and white days.  But it is true, I believe for many, that when we get carried away with the burdens of the modern world, we do not want to be grabbed by Beethoven's Pathetique (although I cannot dispute its beauty).  We want instead a couple notes, a single melody; one that would let us, just for a minute, feel nothing but its light movement and its open spirit.

Granted

We often get buried by our problems.  We also often listen to others, and think that perhaps their problems are not as bad as they think they are.  The point I'm trying to make is that when we get used to our lives we start taking so many things for granted.  It's an old idea.  But think about how many things that encompasses - our jobs, houses, friendships, relationships.  Sometimes one might think he is being taken for granted, but is he not taking for granted the person he's channeling his anger at?

It is easy to see this error in other people, but it takes a lot to be able to recognize it in ourselves.  And we should all remember that even the richest, most successful person can become a culprit of this.  In fact those who have the most, have the most to lose.  They might not lose their riches, but what about the other things that make a person happy?  And so it is those aspects of our lives that we see most often and get used to, that we tend to take for granted, and it is oh so useful to remind ourselves to cherish what we have when we are lucky enough to hear someone else rambling about how much they are ready to lose.